Monthly Archives: September 2013

Recently I posted an item about KU professor, David W. Guth, who made some comments on twitter concerning the NRA. He was holding them responsible for the Washington Navy Yard shooting and his comments were interpreted by many as promoting violence against the families of NRA members.

What was the tweet? “#NavyYardShooting The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May God damn you.

“Various individuals took offense to that, including members of the Kansas State legislature. The University of Kansas has placed him on indefinite leave. Naturally, various members of the mainstream media and liberal educators have said that the professor was within his first amendment rights.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm………………….interesting.

So, let’s come up with a hypothetical. Let’s say that there was a professor out there, or another individual, who was concerned about women getting raped. And let’s say that same person was really upset with the laws in certain states/cities that made it difficult for a woman to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon. (Those that are classified as may issue as opposed to shall issue).

Continuing with our hypothetical, let’s say another female gets raped in one of those cities and did not have a concealed carry weapon with which to defend herself. Now let’s say that someone posted a tweet along the lines of “That rape is on the hands of those who deny women the right to self defense: the Obamas, Bidens and Bloombergs. May the next rape victim be one of your family members”

What would happen? Would the liberal media support the first amendment rights of the person who posted that? Would the Secret Service be knocking on that person’s door, arrest warrant in hand?

For the record, I do not advocate the rape of any female, be she an ordinary citizen or high profile personality. Neither do I advocate any act of violence.

I do support the rights of all persons to defend themselves, their family members, and anyone else within close proximity, against violent acts.

This from the Tampa Tribune at

Politics, more than guns, drove Colorado recall

BY DAVID KOPEL Bloomberg News
Published: September 18, 2013

The Colorado vote to recall two Democratic state senators is a major win for the Second Amendment and for responsible law-making. Although guns were the reason for the recall campaign, Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs and Senator Angela Giron of Pueblo lost primarily because they misused their powers, not for any stand on principle. Their misjudgments may mean the end of the state’s new gun control laws.

As of today, those laws are still on the books. The Senate used to be split 20-15 with a Democratic majority. The majority is now reduced to 18-17. More important, because the Senate’s two pro-Second Amendment Democrats voted against it, the magazine ban passed by only a single vote. After the recall, the Colorado Senate has a pro-Second Amendment majority — enough to repeal the ban on magazines holding more than 15 rounds.

In the state’s House of Representatives, there may already be a majority for repeal. The magazine ban passed the House in February by only three votes, and by March widespread buyer’s remorse had spread among Democrats who voted in favor of the ban. That’s a reason the bill’s managers couldn’t let the bill go back to the House for amendments, even after it became clear that the bill had major drafting defects.

The bill only passed the House in the first place because Vice President Joe Biden called undecided state Democratic representatives and essentially ordered them to vote for it. After this week’s recall, White House promises of electoral protection for legislators who vote against guns no longer have credibility.

There’s no expectation that Gov. John Hickenlooper would sign a bill repealing the law. But he might not be governor for a lot longer. His approval ratings are underwater with 48 percent of voters saying he shouldn’t be re-elected in 2014. One big reason for Hickenlooper’s lackluster polling numbers is his stance on guns; Coloradoans disapprove of his handling of the issue by 17 points.

Hickenlooper made the situation worse in August by blocking the execution of Nathan Dunlap, who killed four people during a 1993 robbery of a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.

For some Coloradoans, it was galling to see Hickenlooper thwart justice for a heinous gun criminal while cracking down on law-abiding gun owners. The governor retains strong support among Democrats, but his approval rating has plunged among a plurality of Republicans. Hickenlooper is also underwater with independents.

After the vote last week, Hickenlooper said, “Obviously I’ll have to do a better job of getting the facts out there” about the gun control bills. The voters’ message, however, wasn’t that gun control advocates don’t talk enough. The problem was how little they listened during the legislative process.

In the last half-century, the Colorado legislative leader who had been the most notorious for abusing the rights of the minority party, and for bullying dissidents in his own party, was Republican Carl Beverly Bledsoe, who was speaker of the House from 1981 to 1991. Things became so bad that Colorado voters in 1988 took the extraordinary step of adopting a constitutional amendment to reform the legislative system, curbing Bledsoe’s power.

The only legislative leader in the last half-century who may have exceeded Bledsoe’s abuses of power was Senate President Morse in 2013. As with Bledsoe, Colorado voters ultimately decided they needed to take special action.

Morse, who was elected Senate president by his party’s left wing, treated moderate Democrats almost as badly as he treated Republicans. As with the gun legislation, he rammed complex bills on education finance, wind-power mandates and election law revisions through the Senate so quickly that errors were often overlooked. Later, when the mistakes became obvious, corrections weren’t allowed. Senator Giron was a reliable supporter of Morse, and he appointed her to be chairman the State Affairs Committee.

The Colorado legislature has a long-standing tradition of allowing every citizen who wishes to testify the opportunity to be heard, at least briefly. Legislators have endured many long committee hearings listening to citizens argue for and against gay rights, motorcycle-helmet mandates, immigration and other hot topics.

During the gun bill hearings this year, Giron followed Morse’s orders to limit testimony to 90 minutes per side. Hundreds of Colorado residents, some of whom had driven hours to get to Denver, were turned away.

Back home in Pueblo (where the Democratic sheriff was among the opponents of the gun bills), Giron compounded the problem — declaring that because she had taken questions about guns at one town-hall meeting, she didn’t want to talk about the subject at any other town halls. Giron’s district has a 24-point Democratic advantage among registered voters and voted for President Barack Obama by a 19-point margin in 2012. She was ousted this week by 12 points.

The recall of Giron and Morse was partly a repudiation of substance of the gun laws, but more so, it was a rejection of their political high-handedness. In Colorado, and elsewhere in the U.S., the process matters — even, or especially, if you disagree on principles.

David Kopel is research director of the Independence Institute in Denver and an adjunct professor of advanced constitutional law at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law.

The University of Kansas journalism professor who sent a tweet wishing violence on children of National Rifle Association members has been put on administrative leave..

David Guth’s remarks, which had led NRA leaders to calls for his firing, were in response to Monday’s shootings at the Washington Navy Yard that left 13 people dead.

University officials called his words “repugnant,” and on Friday Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said Guth would be put on leave.

“In order to prevent disruptions to the learning environment for students, the School of Journalism and the university, I have directed Provost Jeffrey Vitter to place Associate Professor Guth on indefinite administrative leave pending a review of the entire situation,” Gray-Little said in a statement.

A journalism professor at the University of Kansas sent out the following tweet “#NavyYardShooting The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame on you. May GOD damn you.”

This from a journalism professor? One who is supposedly teaching young folks how to report news, without bias? And yes, he has certain rights under the First Amendment. Do those rights include promoting violence against others?

Curious, what has he ever done to defend those rights? Be it the first, second, or any other amendment.

Two Colorado State Senators have been recalled as a result of their anti-second amendment stance and their support for the recent ridiculous new laws passed in Colorado. One of them, was John Morse, the now former president of the state senate. Now former state senator Angela Giron was originally thought to be “safe” since her district is very heavily democratic. Apparently she lost by a larger margin than Morse. Add to that the fact that anti-gun, anti-second amendment groups outspent gun rights groups by 7-1. A victory for the those who still believe in our Constitution.